


Theon Greyjoy ~ The Dead Who Never Died

by Pie (potteresque_ire)



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Meta, Other, Reviews, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-08 17:44:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19475554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potteresque_ire/pseuds/Pie
Summary: Some thoughts on Theon of House Greyjoy and House Stark. Please note: contains spoilers for the TV show. Cross-posted on Tumblr: https://potteresque-ire.tumblr.com/post/186052039860/theon-greyjoy-the-dead-who-didnt-die





	Theon Greyjoy ~ The Dead Who Never Died

I was thinking…what do I want to say about Theon? He had a beautiful character arc; he showed that characters can undergo significant transformations (Theon did twice) and still be plausible and sympathetic, as long as the writing supports the development.

Then I thought of his mottos of the family he was born into, and being held as a ward in. _We do not sow_. _Winter is coming_. And I thought, oh.

No wonder he had such a difficult journey finding out who he was. No wonder everyone, including and perhaps, especially himself, couldn’t fathom for so long that a person could be both a Greyjoy and a Stark. _We do not sow_ was all about seizing the moment, abhorring foresight and preparation. _Winter is coming_ was all about the reverse _._ No wonder Theon assumed that choosing his birth family equated with destroying his adopted one. Theon’s background was one of conflict—and I love details like this, when even the family mottos reinforcing the idea that Theon lived in the grey (huh) at the start of his journey, and this grey was volatile because the elements — the Greyjoys and the Starks — were never meant to mix.

The most difficult part to watch about Theon was, of course, the torture he suffered from Ramsey. While I found the physical torture to be about 50% necessary (too long for my taste), I really liked the ultimate treachery Ramsey pulled on Theon: the fake escape, the fake hope instilled that his sister was waiting, the fake horse ride that led straight back to the St Andrew’s Cross. Not that I endorsed Ramsey behaviour (this should go without saying), but I liked how drawn-out and _psychological_ this torture was; how, whether by intention or accident, Ramsey had found the precise thing that’d break Theon. The strongest, most unbreakable prison is the one we build in our minds, and Ramsey successfully, convincingly constructed one with that fake escape. It was the opus of a grand if terrible scheme: Theon had done unspeakable damage to his adopted home; Ramsey started with physical torture that broke his resolve and pride, let regret—of betraying Rob and attacking Winterfell—take its hold; the escape then worked upon that regret, which was itself already a powerful form of mental torture, by convincing Theon that not only there was no way out, there was no one there for him, not even his birth family—which was the chronic wound in Theon’s psyche, from the moment he’d been sent to the Starks as a hostage and pretty much abandoned there. The black and white that’d made the grey, the grey that’d made Theon had separated, and Theon was left in a void that allowed Ramsey to sculpt him into whatever Ramsey pleased. Without the escape sequence, I don’t think I’d be as convinced with Theon becoming Reek; and if I’d been convinced then, I’d be less convinced with Theon’s second transformation, after his true baptism in the sea (after failing to overcome his PTSD to save Yara and jumping into the ocean).

I identified with Reek and sympathised with him, even if he’d destroyed Winterfell and killed two innocent boys and many others. I connected with him more than with the more heroic characters of the show. If I had to give a cause, I’d say this—I’m no Gryffindor. I’ve said this before. But I’d clarify here the guilt I feel when I say it:I feel guilty because I could’ve done more for people who could use a voice, not because I was born with less courage than to my liking. I felt this was true for Theon as well; while his mistakes had led him to Ramsey, it was not his fault to break, especially not with the things he’d gone through. Not everyone was born with the iron spine told in the legends, and Balon Greyjoy, who turned his own humiliation into hatred for his youngest son, the rightful heir of the Salt Throne, was more a coward than Theon ever was. It was heartbreaking to watch Theon cowering, their every facial muscle twitching with fear; it was even more heartbreaking to see him unable to dig that razor into Ramsey’s neck _and Ramsey knew it_. To see anyone assumed so confidently that they shall not rise again, to be announced dead before they truly were.

What is dead may never die. I wondered then if Theon’s fate would be a reflection or irony of that.

I rooted for Theon to prove Ramsey wrong. I rooted for him to escape his psychological prison if just so he could pay his dues for his crimes. No one deserved this kind of death sentence. Our corporal beings die but our spirit are meant to live, through the memories of who we are; memories built from our own history, in the minds of those who’ve crossed our paths in our life’s journey. Ramsey experimented death in reverse for Theon; he tried to kill Theon’s spirit while keeping his body alive.

It made sense to me then, that Theon the Human would rise again with Sansa’s appearance. That she and their shared childhood memories would revive him, even if they hadn’t shared kind words with one another before Theon grabbed her arm and they jumped from the tower. It also made sense that Theon would be the one to guard Bran in the Battle of Winterfell. Theon was the personification of the Three-Eye Raven’s power over the Night King. He rose because Sansa kept his history; mankind could only live if the Night King couldn’t destroy its history stored in the Three-Eye Raven.

I also liked that Theon’s second transformation—from Reek back to Theon Greyjoy—wasn’t a simple path. I liked that he freaked out amidst the bloodshed on the ship and abandoned Yara with Euron. It felt realistic to me, that his healing—or perhaps, his scarring—was prone to setbacks, as is true for many in our world who have experienced trauma. I didn’t see the relapse as Theon’s weakness; I saw it as a testament to the depth of his wound. His recovery might have been more uplifting to watch, more fitting to the often (over?) positive portrayal of recovery and healing in our culture if the show hadn’t given him these hardships. But that would’ve been an insult to him, to his newly gained humility and iron will, which made him stand as both a Greyjoy and a Stark in the end.

Theon’s end. As I mentioned above, I found his guarding Bran in the Battle of Winterfell to be thematically significant and I liked that. GoT characters often died unexpectedly deaths, so the best to hope for was for their deaths to be meaningful and Theon’s was. Of all the GoT characters, I think of his journey as closest to what fandom calls a redemption arc; it was also a satisfying arc, in that I felt the show actually believed in it (unlike that of Daenerys). I often hesitate on using the term redemption, because I’m not sure if I believe that good deeds in the present can truly cancel out past trespasses when the trespasses were not against God but against fellow men. Redemption, to me, is real only when the wronged party chooses to forgive, which may be true for God but is certainly not a given among humans. Theon’s redemption arc was complete to me not when Sansa gave him the pin, but when she and the Starks trusted him with guarding Bran. That decision said a lot about Sansa’s heart and her capacity to forgive, but said as much about Theon who carried out the task honourably in the face of bloodshed. That night, he overcame his demons. He might not have lived defending a wolf — there’s never a guarantee in their world or ours that good people are rewarded with longevity — but his iron born spirit would be remembered. He fought as one who didn’t sow because he was meant to give his all, every moment, even when winter came.


End file.
